Bottle crate and cell unit therefor



Jan. 22, 1957 E. H. BocK BOTTLE CRATE. AND CELL UNIT THEREFOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 15, 1954 Fig.2,

lik lr INVENTOR.

BY Ernest H B0ck WZQMMVW o o o o o o o o o ow 5 bfmm' mm: 2

Jan. 22, 1957 E. H. BOCK 2,778,524

BOTTLE CRATE AND CELL UNIT THEREFOR Filed Jan. 15, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 27 W25 lu [I6 [I4 21 6 00 M 0 g I0 5 W) (M GOO-i= I 2 0 00 0 0% m J B 3 25 Fig BF K Fig. 7.

IN VEN TOR.

BY Ernest H, B ock United States Patent Steel Corporation, Wheeling, W. Va., a corporation of Delaware Application January 15, 1954, Serial No. 404,260 2 Claims. (oi. 22041 I This invention relates to abottle crate'and a cell unit which'may be utilized in making a bottle crate. Both the cell unit and the bottle crate are strong and rigid and of unprecedentedly light weight fortheir strength and rigidity. I

My bottle crate and cell unit have further important advantages, among which areprovision for free drainage of liquid from the crate, provision for deposit and withdrawal of bottles atany angle about the cell axis with equal and great facility, provision for through circulation of cold air for refrigerating the contents of bottles held therein and provision "for absorbing shocks and jars in handling.

Advantages of the invention arise by virtue of the novel way in which the elements thereof are formed and assembled. For purposes of explanation and illustration I shall describe the invention" as embodied in a bottle crate for holding' 'twenty-four' bottles, the crate comprising four of my novel cell units. I desirably utilize foraminous' sheet material, especially metal and preferably expanded metal in making mycell units and other'por- 'tions of my'bottlecrate. Expanded metal is of great strength while being at the same time light in weight'and providing for through ventilation.

I'provide a bottle cratehavinga body constituted by a single sheet of foraminous material formed into generally channel shape with the web of 'the channel constituting the bottom of the body"andtheflanges of the chanfrel constituting'two opposed sides of the'body, end mem- "bers closing the ends of the channel'and constituting the "other two opposed'sides of theibody and meansin'the 'body'fastened to the bottom constituting bottle cells. Desirably the fora'rninous material 'used for the body is expanded metal, and Ilfind itprefer able to di'spo'se"the long" dimensions of the diamonds of "the expanded metal ftransversely oftheChahnel. Themeans-lathe body constituting bottle cells is preferably of-metal and welded tothebottom. Thebot tle cells are desirably ofrourid cross section. The bottle'cell's 'lare"preferablybfforaminous material and' 'theyare desirably-of foraminous metal, eiqgiarided metal-"being' at present preferred.

[further providea generally rectangular bottle crate having -a"bo tto'm errommineus' material-and sides ex- "t'ending upwardly from the"bottomfand'bottle cells of foraniinous material" mounted upon the bottom and st rroundedby f'the'sides. I-pre'fento mak'e'the bottom of expanded" metal and' also 'to make the bottom cells of fexpanded i'iietalandt0"=weldl'the bottle cells to the bottom.

g l 'preferably' form the bottle-cellswith feet at their lower extrenntiesdisposedsubstantially in a plane parallel to the plane of the'bottom and to connect'the feet with the bottom. Such" connectiommay normally" be effected by' 'wel'ding. I p I p i I Ifurther' provide a'bottle cratehaving abottom, a top with bottle opening therein and borne cells extendalignment with the bottle openings in the"top add "ice fastened to both the'bottom and the top. The top-is preferably of metal, as are the bottom and the bottle cells, and the elements are preferably permanently assembled by welding.

In a preferred structure the bottle cells have feet at their upper and lower extremities, the feet of the bottle cells at the upper extremities thereof being welded to the top and the feet of the bottle cells at the lower extremities thereof being welded to the bottom. Desirably the bottle cells have outwardly projecting feet at their upper extremities welded to the top and inwardly projecting feet at their lower extremities welded to the bottom.

The bottle openings in the top are preferablyv circular and the bottle cells are preferably of circular, desirably cylindrical, cross section whereby deposit and withdrawal of bottles at any angle about the cell axis with equal and great facility is provided for.

1 preferably employ in my bottle crate a unitary bottle cell unit of sheet material formed into a plurality of bottle cells each of which is peripherally closed and disposed with the bottle cells respectively in vertical alignment with the bottle openings in the top. The cell unit preferably comprises a scalloped strip of sheet metal reversely bent at an end of the unit so that opposed upward scallops cooperate to form cells, opposed portions of the unit intermediate cells being fastened together so that the cells are peripherally closed. When the, cell unit is made of metal, as, for example, expanded metal, the opposed portions of the unit intermediate cellsare welded together. The unit preferably has transversely turned feet at at least one extremity thereof in the direction of the axes of the cells to facilitate fastening the unit to a base. Each cell may have outwardly turned feet at one extremity thereof and inwardly turned feet at the opposite extremity thereof.

Other details, object and advantages of the invention-will become apparent as the following description of certain present preferred embodiments thereof proceeds.

ln'the accompanying drawings I have shown certain present preferred embodiments of the invention in which Figure l is a top plan view of a bottle crate with the central bottle cells, which are of the same structure as the marginal bottle cells, indicated diagrammatically;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view'on .the line II--II of the top only of the bottle crate shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of one of the cellunits of the bottle crate;

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of the body of-the bottle crate;

Figure 5 is a side elevational- .view of the bottle crate as viewed from the bottom of Figure. l and with aportion of the expanded metal cut-away;

Figure 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the bottle crate on the line VIVI of Figure 1, being actually partly in end elevation and partlyin vertical cross section;

Figure 7- is a side elevational view of one of the bottle cell units with a portion of the expanded metal cutaway; and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view through an end of the bottle crate taken on the line VIIIVIII of Figure 6.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a bottle crate having a body 2 constituted by a single sheet of expanded metal formed into generally constituting two opposed sides of'the body. The webof the channel or'the bottom of'th ebody is designated 3. Each of the flanges of the channel has a lower portion 3 bent at substantially right angles to the bottom 3, an upwardly and inwardly inclined portion 5 and a surmounting outward lip 6 whose outer extremity 7 lies approximately in the plane of the inner surface of the flange portion 4.

The expanded metal of which the body of the bottle crate is made is shown as being flattened expanded metal, which is expanded metal which is passed between flattening rolls after expanding so that the flattened expanded metal is in the form of a foraminous sheet with its respective faces in parallel planes. to ope in the expanded metal are of the characteristic diamond shape, being formed by integral metal strands 8 joined by bonds 9 is typical of expanded metal. The long dimensions of the diamonds of the expanded metal are shown as extending transversely of the l find that by forming the channel with the long dimensions of the diamonds of the expanded metal extending transversely thereof the bottle crate body is of exceptional strength and rigidity. it is also of exceptionally light weight and since its bottom, which is the bottom of the bottle crate, is foraminous provision is thus made for free drainage of liquid from the crate as well as for through circulation of cold air for refrigerating the contents of bottles held in the crate.

The ends of the channel 2 are closed by end members designated generally by reference numeral ill and which are shown as being formed out of imperforate sheet metal. Each of the end members 1%) a bottom flange 11 and opposed side flanges 312. The body of the end member has a stiffening corrugation 13 extending along the lower portion thereof just above the bottom flange 11 and along the side portions thereof just inside the side flanges 12. Each of the end members also has near the upper edge thereof an inwardly inclined portion 14 surmounted by an outward lip 15. At its upper central portion each of the end members .ltl has a drawn depression 16 to permit the insertion of the fingers of a person carrying the bottle crate.

Each of the end members 10 is applied over an end of the channel 2 with the flange ll underlying the extremity of the channel and the flanges 12 lying outside the flanges of the channel. The end members ill are permanently fastened to the channel 2, preferably by welding. The welding may be effected by spot welding at intervals.

Thus the channel 2 and the end members It) together constitute the bottom and four upstanding sides of the bottle crate with provision in the end members for handling the bottle crate. The strength and rigidity of the crate are enhanced by the stiffening corrugations 13 which in effect form pockets 17 extending along the bottoms of the end members receiving the extremities of the web of the channel 2 and extending upwardly along the side edges of the end members receiving the extremities of the flanges of the channel 2. Also the portions 5 and lips 6 of the channel and the portions lid and lips of the end members contribute to great strength and rigidity of the bottle crate body.

I provide means in the body of the bottle crate fastened to the bottom constituting bottle cells. In the form shown in the drawings the bottle cells are constituted by four cell units, each of the cell units extending longitudinally of the crate and providing six bottle cells. The four cell units are disposed in parallel side-by-side relation. Each of the four cell units is designated by reference numeral 18 and is constituted by a scalloped strip of expanded metal reversably bent at the ends of the unit at 1? so that opposed scallops 20 cooperate to form cells. Opposed portions 21 of the unit intermediate cells are welded together so that the cells are peripherally closed. The cells are of substantially cylindrical form with their axes vertical or generally perpendicuar to the bottom of the crate. The cell units are formed with the longitudinal dimensions of the diamonds extending vertically or parallel to the cell axes,

The cell units are provided with transversely turned feet at the upper and lower extremities thereof. The feet at the upper extremities of the cell units are designated 22 while those at the lower extremities of the cell units are designated 23. The upper feet 22 are turned outwardly or away from the axes of the cells while the lower feet 23 are turned inwardly or toward the axes of the cells. In the form shown the upper feet 22 constitute substantially an outturned flange of expanded metal at the upper extremity of each cell and the lower feet 23 constitute substantially an inturned flange of expanded metal at the lower extremity of each cell. The lower feet 23 might be turned outwardly instead of inwardly but I find it preferable to turn the lower feet inwardly as they thus directly strengthen the bottoms of the cells Where the bottoms of the bottles strike the crate when bottles are introduced with some force downwardly into the cells.

The cell units 18 are mounted on and fastened to the bottom of the crate body by welding the feet 23 to the expanded metal of the bottom. Desirably each strand or bond of a foot 23 which overlaps a strand or bond of the expanded metal of the bottom of the crate is spot welded thereto. However, it is not essential that every such strand or bond be spot welded to the bottom, ade quate strength normally being obtained by welding only selected strands or bonds of the feet 23 to the bottom. Such mounting of the cell units on the bottom of the crate makes effective provision for absorbing shocks and jars imparted to the crate and the bottles therein in handling since expanded metal is substantially resilient while at the same time being strong. The structure described oontributes to long life of the crate and minimizes the danger of breaking bottles carried in it.

The bottle crate shown in the drawings is provided with a top 24 with circular bottle openings 25 therein. The bottle openings 25 in the top 24 are arranged in the same pattern and with the same spacing as the cells provided by the cell units 18. The top 24 is shown as being formed out of sheet metal, the bottle openings 25 being stamped in the metal and a downward peripheral flange 26 being formed about each opening. The top 24 has a downwardly extending peripheral flange 27 which opposite each of the depressions 16 of the end members 10 is elongated and turned inwardly as shown at 283 to constitute a smooth strong hand hold.

The top 24 is applied to the crate body with the cell units therein, the bottle openings 25 of the top being arranged coaxially with the respective bottle cells and the peripheral flanges 26 entering the upper ends of the bottle cells. The feet 22 of the cell units lie directly against and are preferably welded to the under surface of the top 24 about the respective bottle openings 25. The peripheral flange 27 of the top extends down outside the respective sides of the crate and the lips 6 of the channel 2 and the lips 15 of the end members 10 are peripherally welded, as by spot welding, to the under surface of the top. I thus form an all-metal bottle crate which except for the top and ends is of light weight, strong, resilient expanded metal. The elements of the crate are so formed and assembled that the crate is of unprecedented strength and durability for its relatively light weight. The expanded metal of the bottom and two sides of the crate body and of the cell units has sufiicient resilience to absorb shocks and jars, contributing to the long life of the crate and protecting the bottles held thereby against breakage.

Although at present I prefer to make the crate out of metal it is possible to make a crate having advantages of the invention out of other material such as synthetic plastic material, or part of the crate might be made out of metal and part out of such other material.

While I have shown and described certain present preferred embodiments of the invention it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but the following claims.

v 2,778,524 5 I claim: 966,259 1. A bottle crate having a foraminous bottom and 1,125,781 foraminous bottle cells mounted on the bottom, the bottle 1,408,026 cells having feet at their lower extremities disposed sub- 1,66 ,629 stantially in a plane parallel to the plane of the bottom, 5 2,243,625 the feet being connected with the bottom. 2,247,620 2. A bottle crate having a bottom of expanded metal, 2,416,242 a metal top with bottle openings therein and bottle cells 2, of expanded metal extending between the top and bottom 2,526,716 respectively in vertical alignment with the bottle openings 10 2,589,452 in the top, the bottle cells having outwardly projecting 2,613,339 feet at their upper extremities welded to the top and in- 9, wardly projecting feet at their lower extremities welded t th b tt 0 e 0 om 15 672,476 References Cited in the file of this patent ,2? UNITED STATES PATENTS 9 581,054 Arnould Apr. 20, 1897 

